As Kooper runs, I’m jostled, but I hang on tight and keep my pain inside.
Bodies seem to drop around us as he runs for the tree line. A second later, he swings around and shoots as he runs backward, and I hold tight as both his hands seem to be firing now. No idea when he pulled the other gun, but I refuse to be the reason we slow down. I wrap my legs around him like a damn spider monkey, clinging for dear life.
“Attagirl,” he says, bringing a huff to my lips. The stupid guy is taking the time to praise me while he’s the one shooting and running backward. Always making sure I feel my worth, no matter the cause.
Everything. Everything he does is for me. To make me feel special in some way. To let me know how much he cares. How he’s always cared. I could never have imagined I’d find someone like Mom had. And I didn’t find him. He found me.
Or more to the point, he was forced to protect me. And he stayed. Long after the job was done, he stayed.
He turns back, and I can now see the whole house. The place I was held hostage in for who knows how long. It’s half on fire, just like my world felt a few minutes before. Andthrough that fire, I see someone running toward us. Someone I don’t know.
I open my mouth to scream, but a hole appears in his forehead a second before he drops, and in his place is Rooster running straight at us.
Thank fuck he’s on our side.
We keep running for who knows how long. Eventually, the gunfire coming our way dies out. No one seems to be chasing us anymore, but we keep going. Till we don’t. Kooper stops, and I turn my head to see we’re in a small clearing.
“Put your feet down, Peaches.”
I do as he says, and he gently leans down and pulls his head out from between my arms.
“Here.” Another guy steps forward and hands him a knife. A very large knife like you’d see in an alligator hunter movie. Kooper uses it to easily cut the rope keeping my hands together.
“The others?” Kooper asks.
“Out. Venom and I wanted to stay for some fun.”
“I have to say, though, I’d have more fun at home than this,” another guy—who must be Venom, as he looks identical to this one—says as he comes out from behind a tree.
“What’s left?” Rooster asks.
“Bikes. Got three. One of us is riding bitch.” Venom grins and winks at me.
“She’s with me,” Kooper says. “Rooster will take lead. You two follow up.”
“Damn, how did I become the bitch in this?” the other twin, not Venom, complains.
“You’re lucky, I guess.” Venom smirks as he turns to get the bike.
Kooper unstraps his Kevlar and puts it on me. I don’t protest, not when he palms my cheek and kisses me before turning at the sound of a bike being rolled over to us. His kisses are over too quickly. But now isn’t the time to demand his lips on me. Later. When we’re safe. Then I’ll demand. I’ll make all sorts of demands then. One being me sitting on his face again. That particular memory got in my head a lot here. Something to keep me going, to focus on. Mostly just the feeling of rightness with him. And feeling safe in his arms. I want to see if it’s as good as what I remember. If I’m lucky, it’ll be even better.
Kooper lifts me easily and puts me on a bike, then gets on it himself. “Can you hold on?”
I try, but it hurts. He sees the look on my face without me even voicing my protest. I’ll hold him even if it hurts. I will survive this.
He just turns to the twin who isn’t Venom. “Let me get that rope.”
“See? Told you.” He sticks his tongue out at his brother and flutters ita second before he unfastens a piece of rope.
“What do you mean, you told me? I was the one who told you to grab the rope, Viper,” Venom says as he drops the kickstand to hold up the last bike he rolls out. Rooster is already on his.
“No, you didn’t,” Viper snaps, but his fingers belie the anger in his voice. They’re soft and gentle as he ties the rope around me and Kooper at our stomachs, securing us together. If we fall, we’re screwed, but I’d rather that than bouncing off the bike. I lean in close once Viper’s done and grab what I can of the back of Kooper’s shirt.
“You good, doll?” Viper asks with a small look of concern.
I give him a thumbs-up, and he grins. “Classic 80s move there. Love it.”
He hops onto the back of his brother’s bike, and then we take off.
